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Frequently Asked Questions list (5/9) for
"Mad About You" and the
Usenet newsgroup alt.tv.mad-about-you
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Archive-name: tv/mad-about-you/faq/part5
Posting-frequency: quarterly
Last-modified: 97-01-30
Version: 5.1
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This Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) list for the TV Comedy show
"Mad About You" is, as a collection of information,
Copyright (c) 1994-1997 by Ramaswamy [ramax@ultranet.com].
All Rights Reserved.
This document may be freely distributed in electronic form for
personal use only, provided it is distributed in its entirety
and with all original author and copyright information intact.
Distribution by any other means must be by permission of the
copyright holder. This material is for non-commercial use only
and any sale for profit is expressly forbidden. It may not be
included in any commercial documents, archives or CD-ROMs, nor
uploaded to any BBS or online service without the permission
of the copyright holder. The removal of this copyright notice
is prohibited.
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Sections with updates will be flagged with asterisks (*) in the
Local Table Of Contents below. Almost all sections have
updates in this re-organized document, hence none is flagged.
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Please send in corrections/comments to: [ramax@ultranet.com]
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Main Table of Contents
Local Table of Contents
5.0 What about MAYlanguage and MAYsongs?
5.1 What is MAYlanguage?
5.2 What is the Theme Song and who sings it?
5.3 What are the lyrics to the theme song?
5.4 What are the lyrics to the Sisters' Duet?
5.5 What was the Buchman Wedding Song?
5.6 What are the lyrics to Susannah's Song?
5.7 What were Paul, Mark and Ira singing at the Karaoke bar?
5.8 What was the poem Henry Gibson recited at the Laugh In party?
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5.0 What about MAYlanguage and MAYsongs?
Some of the expressions and songs not addressed in the MAY Episode
Guides could use a place of their own, and this section is it.
5.1 What is MAYlanguage?
Some off-beat expressions of the more prominent characters are being
catalogued here as MAYlanguage, in no specific order of occurrence.
In a few cases an expression of one character has crossed-over to
another, as is likely to happen in any relationship:
Paul Buchman
- "a) .. and 2) .."
Instead of saying a) and b), or 1) and 2), Paul has a tendency to
mix and match, a habit that can traced back to early childhood
[5.5]. Examples can be found often in the later seasons, less so
in the earlier ones [1.14, 2.19, 3.5]. Once he slips up and uses
a) and b) as well [2.19].
- "1) .. and b) .."
The flip side, used in [2.7].
- "Hello?"
Introduced in [1.1] and heard many times since [1.2, 1.5, 2.1],
it is a rejoinder usually directed at Jamie to question one of
her assertions.
- "Let it go!"
Used by Paul to stifle a thread of conversation begun by Jamie
[2.2]. A polite form of "Shut-up" (see below).
Paul has also used some variations of this expression:
- "I'm begging you to stop!" [2.20],
- "Let's not go there!" [2.24] and
- "You want to go THERE?" [3.4].
This expression has crossed over to Jamie [3.21], and
coincidentally, Sid Novak uses it on Aunt Lolly [3.20].
- "Oh, stop it!"
Used by Paul to counter a knowing look or smile from Jamie
[3.4, 3.5, 3.6].
- ".. not so much .."
Usually used a lot to indicate his unwillingness, in the
not-liking or not-wanting-to department [1.2, 1.6, 1.14,
1.20, 2.12, 3.4, 3.8, 3.10], another habit from early
childhood [5.5].
This expression too has crossed over to Jamie [3.8], and even
to Helen Hunt (on "The Late Show with David Letterman,"
November 23, 1994).
- "This is what I'm thinking"
Introduced in [1.1], and continued in later episodes [1.8,
2.12].
- "This is what I'm saying"
Introduced in [1.13], it appears to be a Buchmanism, since
Paul's sister Sharon also uses it [2.3]. This expression has
also crossed over to Jamie [1.22, 2.18] and to Ira [3.16].
- "Never going to happen, my friend!"
Introduced in [2.7], where it irritates Jamie no end, the
expression finds acceptance [2.12] and eventually crosses
over to her [2.20], and Ira too [3.3].
- "Splinky!"
Used by Paul to address Ira [3.7, 3.19], the story of its origin
loses Ira a beautiful girlfriend, or so he believes [4.14].
Jamie Buchman
- "Shut-up!"
Used to cut off a thread of conversation, usually directed at Paul
when he is getting persistent. First heard at Riff's Bar [1.4],
it is featured frequently [1.5, 1.10, 1.18, 2.13] and also
directed at Lisa [1.10, 2.15].
- "Excuse me?"
Used with a special tone to express extreme dismay at Paul, or
even Lisa [1.2, 2.13, 2.16].
- "Oh-My-God!"
Used in bed, as attested to by Hal Conway [1.10], and in other
mundane and not so mundane situations: [1.13, 1.17, 1.18, 1.21,
2.4, 2.16, 2.18].
- "Oooookay!"
The last defense against Paul's ramblings, when a quick "Shut up"
would not work [2.1, 2.3, 2.12].
- "Murray-get-the-mouse!"
The definitive MAY expression [2.2]. Murray and his nemesis, an
invisible mouse, are a recurring theme in Season #2. Used to get
Murray off the couch [2.18], or simply to entice him into some
activity [2.20], where its use leads to one of the choicest
rendition of "Son of a Bitch!" heard on TV.
Lisa Stemple
- "Duh!"
An expression of self-assuredness [2.8], that has crossed-over
to Jamie [2.17, 2.20, 5.5].
Mark Devanow
- "Al...though .."
One of many sing-song expressions used by Mark [1.3, 4.20], with an
extended first syllable. Another example: "be...cause" [1.21].
- "They look fantastic!", "You look great/fantastic!"
The effusive expression that leads Jamie to dub Mark "festive"
[1.11], and the variation has been seen in odd contexts: with
Fran [1.21], with Jamie [1.22], and Diane "Spy Girl" Caldwell
[1.20].
Ira Buchman
- "Pez head!"
Used only to describe Paul, to Paul [2.16].
Sid Novak
- "Moving on!"
Used to express impatience with Paul's uncertainties [4.11].
5.2 What is the Theme Song and who sings it?
The theme song is "Final Frontier." It is not "Mad About You."
It is sung by Andrew Gold.
Composed by Don Was and Paul Reiser, with piano accompaniment by
Paul Reiser, it has been produced by Don Was. The original music is
by David Kitay.
The song provides the voice over the opening credits of the show.
It has been used in its entirety only in season #1 episodes, and
occasionally in season #2 and #3 (the one-hour episodes). Most
episodes in season #2 and season #3 use only the first 4 and the
last 4 lines, for reasons of time compression. There are two
versions of the lyrics, and also a hybrid version (mostly version
#1, with two lines from version #2) that has been used in seasons
#2 and #3.
A version of the theme song is now available on a CD entitled:
"Television's Greatest Hits Volume 7: Cable Ready"
The MAY theme will available in the long form in the Spring of 1997.
For the story of how "The Final Frontier" came to be, a downloadable
version of the song and information about Andrew Gold and the other
artists, visit Paul Grosso's Bryndle home page:
- http://www.wco.com/~paulg/bryndle/may.html
5.3 What are the lyrics to the theme song?
The following transcript is from the opening credits
of episodes [1.3] and [1.21]:
Tell me why,
I love you like I do,
Tell me who,
Can stop my heart as much as you,
Tell me all your secrets and I'll tell you most of mine,
they say nobody's perfect but that's really true this time,
I don't have the answers,
I don't have a plan,
Mad about you baby,
so help me understand,
What we do,
You can whisper in my ear,
Where we go,
who knows what happens after here,
Let's take each other's hands,
As we jump into the final frontier,
Mad about you baby,
Yeah...
I'm mad about you...
The lyrics, with minor variations, are also sung by the Sauve
Singers in the Tag to episode [2.8]. The variations are
noted with an asterisk (*) along the left-margin:
Tell me why,
I love you like I do,
Tell me who,
Can stop my heart as much as you,
Tell me all your secrets and I'll tell you most of mine,
*they say nobody's perfect but it is really true this time,
I don't have the answers,
*And I don't have a plan,
*All I have is you,
*So darling help me understand,
What we do,
You can whisper in my ear,
Where we go,
who knows what happens after here,
Let's take each other's hands,
As we jump into the final frontier,
*I'm mad about you,
*I'm mad about you,
*so mad about you...
In the lyrics of the hybrid version (used since season #2),
the following two lines in the middle:
Mad about you baby,
so help me understand,
have been replaced with:
All I have is you,
So darling help me understand,
5.4 What are the lyrics to the Sisters' Duet?
Performed by Lisa and Jamie for their parents (and Paul
and Murray) in episode [1.5]:
Sisters!
Sisters!
There were never such devoted sisters!
Never had to have a chaperone, no Sir!
I'm here to keep my eye on her,
Caring!
Sharing!
Every little thing that we're wearing,
When a certain gentleman arrived from Rome,
She wore the dress,
And I stayed home!
Lord help the mister,
Who comes between me and my sister,
And Lord help the sister,
Who comes between me and my man!
The song is from the movie "White Christmas," where it is
sung by Vera Ellen and Rosemary Clooney, and also by Bing
Crosby and Danny Kaye (in drag).
5.5 What was the Buchman Wedding Song?
A reference in season #1 [1.7] indicated that the wedding song was
"Color My World" (Chicago). However the song played in the
wedding episode [3.13] is "What the World needs now is Love, Sweet
Love" (sung by Dionne Warwick).
"Color My World" is mentioned by Ira to Jamie as one of three
possibilities (the others being Alley Cat and Hokey Pokey)
when they are setting the agenda during Ira's prison gig. It is
possible that the producers were unable to secure permission for
the song's inclusion, and had to substitute.
5.6 What are the lyrics to Susannah's Song?
Susannah Gould, accompanied by Ira as the substitute keyboard player
(since her key-boardist Derek could not find his pants), sings this
song at Scamp's [3.22]. Presumably the title is "Where've You Been":
Until we kissed,
I never knew the thrill that could be tasted,
Until we kissed,
I never knew the years that I had wasted,
But now I know I was waiting,
For you to come by, I was waiting,
Won't you please tell me why this took so long to begin,
Darlin', where have you been all my life?
Oh darlin', where have you been,
Where've you been?
Where've you been when I was feeling blue?
Where have you been, where've you been,
Where've you been when I was needing you?
Where've you been, where've you been...
(fade out)
5.7 What were Paul, Mark and Ira singing at the Karaoke bar?
"Your Cheatin' Heart" by Hank Williams [4.22], although it is
possible that Paul Reiser, being a Patsy Cline fan (judging from
references on MAY [2.2, 2.16]), picked up her version of the song.
5.8 What was the poem Henry Gibson recited at the Laugh In party?
In fact there was a poem and a half, the latter interrupted as the
Laugh In gang were being shown out of the apartment [4.11]. But
earlier we got to see and hear Mr. Gibson recite:
"Ostriches are not clumsy" by Henry Gibson
Ostriches, when they mate and such,
Frolic with a gentle touch,
They're cautious when it comes to sex,
One false move, they'll break their necks.
Imagine!
And then at the end:
"Thank you for the party" by Henry Gibson
Thank you for the party,
I had a wonderful time,
I loved its every moment...
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Please send in corrections/comments to: [ramax@ultranet.com]
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